Huge win for car owners! All TSBs to be made public.
The Center for Auto Safety just made the NHTSA (US Government) make public the full text of all TSBs from now on. They are the same organization that has petitioned the NHTSA & filed lawsuits to protect car owners over exploding gas tanks & other major safety issues.
Whenever you drive in your car, you are safer thanks in part to a lot of work over the years by this small but very effective consumer advocacy group.

NHTSA — Equipment Problems

CarComplaints.com Notes: Most people need a car where the coil springs don't puncture or shred tires while driving. The Taurus fails in that respect.

The 1999-2003 Ford Taurus has a huge problem with coil springs breaking, which can puncture or even shred tires while driving.

The US government spent THREE YEARS (2008-2011) investigating the 2002-2003 Taurus coil springs. Although Taurus/Sable from earlier years were recalled, ultimately the NHTSA did not force a recall. They determined that because there had been no deaths & very few bad crashes & injuries, the broken coil springs defect was no big deal & not a safety defect. Tell that to all the owners who had close calls...

2.8

hardly worth mentioning

Crashes / Fires:

0 / 0

Injuries / Deaths:

0 / 0

Average Mileage:

51,567 miles

About These NHTSA Complaints:

This data is from the NHTSA — the US gov't agency tasked with vehicle safety. Complaints are spread across multiple & redundant categories, & are not organized by problem.

So how do you find out what problems are occurring? For this NHTSA complaint data, the only way is to read through the comments below. Any duplicates or errors? It's not us.

Search for Car Problems

2002 Ford Taurus Owner Comments

Taurus

99,700 miles

A D V E R T I S E M E N T S

I have a 2002 Ford Taurus sel. Yesterday my cruise control cable got stuck in the open position while driving on interstate 45 in houston during the early evening. Braking helped slow the car down, but it would accelarate back up again as soon as the brake was released. My son was able to get off the highway safely, but only by putting the car in neutral with it still revving up past 5000 RPM. He turned off the car when on the service road and it came to a safe stop. When the car was started up again, it would rev back up. My oldest son and I met up with him, and when we opened the hood of the car, the cruise control cable was stuck in the open position. There is a small nick and crack in the outside housing of the cable that it got hung up on. My son disabled the cruise control so that we could drive the vehicle home. I have a picture of the housing and have put a call in to my dealer, champion Ford in houston, this morning. I am waiting for the service department there to call me back now.

Taurus

55,000 miles

Bought 2002 Ford Taurus sel from used car lot, had about 43,000+ miles in excellent condition. I have had this car less than a year. It presently has 68,000 miles (700 miles driven weekly), all highway driving. At about 55,000 miles ( I am guessing), I started hearing a clunk. Today I went to change the brakes and found the drivers side rear suspension low to the tire. I carry no weight in the car. I took the tire off to find the spring had snapped and coiled around the strut perch. The car has not been abused or mistreated. I find it strange that this car would snap a spring so easily in such a sort time. Luckily it didn't pop a tire while driving. I have read up on the internet to find this is a known problem for this year and make car. I have also read, that I should expect the front struts to collapse. I feel Ford should be held accountable for selling a car with known dangerous and potential problems. There should be a recall on these vehicles for a potentially dangerous and faulty suspension. I have also been forced to replace the blower motor to the cars HVAC system. The system has been working intermittently. I have read on the net that this also is a known Ford problem. I am fortunate that I am a federally licensed airplane mechanic, therefore I do my own repairs. The parts in question are not cheap, nor is my time. Ford needs to be forced to reimburse all expenditures to repair these known problems. Ford needs to recall and address these known problems.

Taurus 6-cyl

Automatic transmission

miles

I have owned this car since July of 2005 (3/10/06). My brother went to use the cigarette lighter and when it was done heating up it popped completely out and fell under the passenger seat after bouncing off the center console. This happens every time the cigarette lighter is used. I see another complaint for this and I truly believe that this is a safety hazard for two reasons, 1 being that it could easily cause a fire in the car (especially if there are papers under the seat) which on top of that could cause a crash, and 2 if the driver went to find the lighter so it didn't cause a fire not only would he/she get burned while driving but it could also cause a crash which almost happened to me. And just so Ford knows, I am holding them responsible for my burned finger.

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